The International Boxing Association (AIBA) on Friday claimed a win against corruption and bout manipulation after using military-approved artificial intelligence (AI) to screen judges and referees at the world championships in Belgrade.
Retired US boxer Roy Jones Jr, who was infamously robbed of light-middleweight gold at the 1988 Seoul Olympics and is an ambassador for the championships that ended yesterday, gave the tournament his seal of approval.
“To say the least, I’ve been very satisfied with the judging... I’ve watched at least 300 fights and I haven’t seen one that I thought was corrupt,” he told reporters in the Serbian capital.
Photo: AFP
“It would have been very beautiful to have this technology at that time,” he added. “Better late than never.”
Richard McLaren, whose AIBA-commissioned independent investigation exposed bout manipulation at the 2016 Rio Olympics, said the technology was used in military, diplomatic and insurance sectors, and analyzed the “cognitive functions of the brain through voice responses.”
It “bore no resemblance whatsoever” to a lie detector test, he said.
“The technology uses pertinent questions, such as ‘have you ever cheated in a boxing event?’ With the use of such questions we measure risk from an individual regarding certain events of manipulation or potential corruption,” he said.
McLaren said that two people put forward for Belgrade were not approved in a process that also featured screening with a cyberinvestigation platform used by law enforcement agencies.
Two more were removed after follow-up interviews in Belgrade.
No official refused to undergo the process.
McLaren described it as “a big, huge, historic step forward in eliminating bout manipulation,” and said the technology could serve as a blueprint for other Olympic sports using judges and referees.
“I think the technology has incredible potential,” the Canadian lawyer added.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) — whose long-time member Wu Ching-kuo, better known internationally as C.K. Wu, led AIBA at Rio — suspended the association in 2019, stripping it of involvement in this year’s Tokyo Games over governance, finance, refereeing and ethical issues. A decision on the Paris Olympic Games in 2024 has yet to be taken.
Wu, who led the AIBA for 11 years, resigned in 2017 and was banned from the body for life the following year. He last year resigned from the IOC, where he had represented Taiwan since 1988.
AIBA president Umar Kremlev said it had “acknowledged the problems of the past,” which included asking McLaren to investigate and confirm there were likely corrupt bouts in Rio.
“We have brought in independent experts to help guide us and now we must boldly embrace the future,” the Russian official said in a statement.
McLaren said the new vetting process would be “a big aid” to AIBA putting its house in order.
Separately, the world body announced the formation of an independent Boxing Integrity Unit.
It also said a decision on whether to postpone to March next year the women’s world championships scheduled for next month in Istanbul would be made next week.
The championships have been cast into doubt due to high rates of COVID-19 infection in Turkey.
Additional reporting by staff writer and AP
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